Sorry if this is too late for your trip. I am currently in Jamaica for a couple weeks. I found some pretty awesome cliffs next to the ocean between falmouth and duncans that are totally climbable, they just need to be developed. I will post pictures when I get back to the states. Also i heard there is climbing up in cockpit country but the cliff when i started up that way looked real soft.

The cliffs that I was looking at are really close to Falmouth. (approximate gps 18.487446, -77.595937) The simplest way to access them is to walk along the ocean from Falmouth. Really it was more of a bush whack. Honestly I accessed them from the beach at Duncans but that is a pretty long walk, but Falmouth is visible from the cliffs. I am including a couple pics but my phone ate most of my pictures from that excursion. In the far right corner of of of them you can just make out a cruise ship docked at Falmouth.

View of cliffs from Falmouth

Looking toward Falmouth.

John is right they are north facing but there is a lot of shade so I don't think the heat should a deal breaker. I am not a geologist but I believe the rock was limestone. My friend said that it reminded her of the climbing in Thailand. There where lots of pockets and some tuffas. There where some cracks as well. Since it is a tropical environment some of the rock is pretty dirty and overgrown. Overall though I thought that the rock was pretty solid and had a lot of potential, and the location is gorgeous. If you do develop some routes please keep us updated. Hopefully this info is helpful.

The simplest way to access them is to walk along the ocean from Falmouth. Really it was more of a bush whack.

Since they are not bolted you need to get to the top of the cliff in order to top-rope or develop them. From the photos, the tops are dense jungle. I've thrashed my way through jungle like that. It's horrific. The last time I did it, it took 90 minutes to go about 1200 feet.

Bobby Hutton wrote:

John is right they are north facing but there is a lot of shade so I don't think the heat should a deal breaker.

I'd think that with the exception of early morning or late afternoon, they'd be in the sun all day near the solstice.

Bobby Hutton wrote:

I am not a geologist but I believe the rock was limestone. My friend said that it reminded her of the climbing in Thailand. There where lots of pockets and some tuffas. There where some cracks as well. Since it is a tropical environment some of the rock is pretty dirty and overgrown. Overall though I thought that the rock was pretty solid and had a lot of potential, and the location is gorgeous. If you do develop some routes please keep us updated. Hopefully this info is helpful.

I'd be surprised if it wasn't limestone, but the tufas confirm it. Dirty and overgrown means it's less than vertical or broken. Good Caribbean limestone is clean, white rock.

There's a place near Negrille called Rick's Cafe that has some cliff jumping over overhanging limestone cliffs. The rock is about 35-40 high and looks to have some interesting deep water soloing opportunities. It's a very touristy place, but the cliffs seemed pretty extensive and went beyond the cafe.

Thanks for sharing your expertise John. I am sure you are right on all counts. Though I believe there is definitely enough areas along that cliff line with clean solid rock to make it a solid climbing destination if someone took the time to develop it. Again all my good close up photos of the cliff got corrupted by my phone. On the access side I am not sure how you would go about getting access or if it would even be an issue. There are definitely opportunities to partner with existing adventure tourism companies in the area. We did some swift water training with a local rafting company and they where very interested in expanding into guiding rock climbing trips if there where venues to go to. Chris we spent some time over there near Negrille and I believe that Rick's cafe already has some kind of deep water soloing deal worked out. I didn't check it out because I am allergic to tourists and tourist traps, but regardless there is really fun cliff jumping all along in that area.